BT News: BT Reach A Milestone Of Subscribers

BT News Update: The company reaches one million subscribers just after three months after initial launch, and expect more in the coming football season. The broadcasting and broadband provider have announced that they have already reached one million subscribers to their sports package deal, after just three months of becoming available. However, although good news the company will not be making a significant profit from the service as the majority of subscribers are currently enjoying the service free of charge. At the moment, British Telecom are allowing customers that already pay for the company’s broadband service to view the sports channels free of charge, with everyone else paying below twenty pounds per month for the service.

However, the company say that they expect the number of their subscribers and viewers to increase once the football Premier League begins this week. BT are saying that they are taking this time to excite their customers about the coming football season by rewarding their loyal consumer base with free viewings. This strategy however, seems to be working and there have been rumours that the company is now worth more than their rival, Sky Sports. Not only do they have their consumer’s enjoyment in mind, but also the fact that they are trying to ward of competitor Sky who are offering a similar sports package and have recently announced many investments and sponsorships that could cause them to have an increase in subscribers. British Telecom are therefore trying to keep customers loyal to the brand and keep their consumer base growing.

Other figures released by BT show that the majority of their current customers have renewed their subscription for another twelve months, therefore showing how they have gained very loyal customers who are prepared to stick with the company, despite other companies perhaps offering better or cheaper deals. The company are therefore very pleased with the growing subscriber figures and are continuously thinking up new ways for this to carry on into the future. The broadband giant’s current strategy is to reward current and loyal consumers, to show they are a valued customer and they are thankful for their loyalty to the brand, but also to encourage them to renew their subscription. If you are a BT customer and wish to keep up to date with all the company’s latest news, please follow the link to our news feed. Alternative you can visit our website for more information by clicking here.

Oranges News Update: Orange Money

Orange News Update: Orange is releasing a new set of mobile payment options and services for Orange Money customers in association with Visa.

The new service allows Orange Money customers to make in store and online payments using Visa. The service will also enable ATM transactions for customers to aid their everyday lives. Botswana will be the first country across the globe to experience, and enjoy the benefits, of this new program. Funds will be able to be accessed 24 hours a day creating easy access to money; this will bring about new point-of-sales, online and ATM transactions options available for customers. Presently, Orange Money permits Orange Money customers to use their phones and other mobile devices to move funds to any mobile phone subscriber either inside or outside of the country, pay their bills or buy airtime.

From August of this year onwards, Orange Money customers situated within Botswana will be able to make Visa enabled payments using their Orange Money account. The new service will also enable customers to pay invoices in stores, international online merchants and at over 300 Visa ATM’s across Botswana. To Use the impressive new program being launched by Orange, customers will need to apply for an Orange Money prepaid Visa Card, which will instantly be connected instantly to their existing account. The card will be secured by a PIN number like most other debit and credit cards. The card will allow them to use their own money to make point-of-sale payments at stores, and make transactions from ATM machines around the country. Subscribers will also benefit from a secured Prepaid Visa card provided by Orange Money for web use. No matter what sector of the population a customer lives in, this innovative new scheme will be available to all no matter what status; from students to self-employed or blue collar workers to the youth.                                           

Botswana will be the first country in the world to use this new service after its launch later this month, following the announcement of a group collaboration between Orange and Visa. Other countries within Africa and the Middle east that currently have access to their Money will progressively have access to the new Orange Money prepaid Visa card. Countries currently developing in Africa and the Middle East are among the first to be targeted for the new program to deploy cross-over pre-paid products and services to try and improve and drive the countries economic growth and financial situations.

For more information on Orange, visit http://www.customerservicescontact.co.uk/orange-telephone-number/.

 

O2 News Update: Most Valuable Customer Base

O2 News Update: O2’s UK CEO Ronan Dunne has announced that they have the most valuable customer base in the market, due to their lowest churn rate ever.

O2’s latest figures are currently showing the companies lowest churn hit on record after its latest quarterly, whereas contract additions rose to a three year high. The claim was made by O2 UK CEO Ronan Dunne following the operators second quarterly’s financial results that were announced to the public last month on July 25^th

These results show that O2 added a staggering 292,000 contract customers up by 16 percent from a year earlier, which is 41,000 more than they added during their first quarterly of this year. This is the sixth consecutive quarterly that O2 have managed to add more than 200,000 to their growing amount of contract subscribers in a three month period. This exponential growth means O2 now have 12.4 million in their contract base which is currently growing by 9 percent each year. On the other hand contract churn fell below the 1% mark to 0.9% this now means that again they have improved upon their first quarterly as the churn has dropped again by 0.1 percent. This result is better than some of the other major competitors such as EE who’s churn rate was at 1.2% in the second quarterly and Three’s was 1.6% in the first half of the year. This huge increase in customers has inevitably created an increase in profit. O2’s profit increased by 9.2 percent annually to £357 million with revenues improving by 4.3% to £1.38 billion.  

Prepay numbers, which account for 46% of the firm’s 23.1 million customers, fell by 78,000, Vodafone and EE, saw numbers fall massively by 102,000 and 671,000 within the second quarterly. Dunne is convinced the persistence in offering the same value on prepay as contract has enabled it to slow the markets decreasing trend. He feels recent success of the company could be down to loyalty schemes that O2 provide for customers such as ‘Priority Moments’, free WiFi and ticket offers at the arena. These schemes help to give the customers the ‘overall wrap’ of ‘value and membership’ with O2. One of the most successful propositions is the O2 refresh plan; Dunne claims this recent plan has allowed them to be ‘disruptive’ in the marketplace. This new plan which has been launched within all stores allows at any point for a Customer on a 24 month contract to upgrade their phone, more than 80% of customers who regularly upgrade now take part in the scheme.

O2 Launch 4G Across 3 Major Cities

Telecommunications company O2 have announced that they will be launching their 4G network in London, Leeds and Bradford on the 29th August 2013. Their scheme will rival new company EE’s 4G service. It is thought that Birmingham, Glasgow, Newcastle, Nottingham, Leicester, Coventry, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield and Edinburgh will also receive the service by the end of the year.

“O2's 4G tariffs - which will be around five times faster than 3G - start at £26 a month and come with a 30-day guarantee and 12 months free music when bought direct from O2.

EE launched Britain's first 4G services last October after the regulator allowed it to re-use its existing airwaves.

The service currently covers 95 cities and tariffs start at £15 for just internet data, or £21 a month for the voice calls and data package on a SIM-only package.

Take-up of EEs superfast services, which are priced 10-20 percent more than the equivalent 3G tariffs, reached 687,000 in July. 

The company is targeting 1 million customers by the end of the year.

For the typical user, download speeds of initial 4G networks should be at least five to seven times faster than those of existing 3G networks.

O2 is launching a range of tariffs starting at £26 a month.

Each one comes with what's called a 30-day 'Happiness Guarantee' for customers who sign up direct from O2. 

This means they will be able to cancel their contract or change it if they are not satisfied.

Customers that buy direct 4G from O2 will also be given 12 months free music content.

All O2 customers will also be offered free 4G advice and guidance from an O2 Guru from launch, either in-store or online.

Further details on O2's 4G prices and rollout dates will be unveiled in the coming months.

EE held the monopoly on the network because regulator Ofcom gave it permission to use existing spectrum (1800MHz) that it already owned.

Ofcom then held an auction for companies to bid to use other parts of the spectrum from 800MhZ to 2.6GHz and O2 purchased the highest proportion of the 800MHz spectrum for £550m.

The spectrum was released to the company in May and the network was approved by Ofcom earlier this week.

Ronan Dunne, CEO of Telefónica UK which owns O2 said: 'Digital connectivity will be made ubiquitous by 4G and become the oxygen of modern life. 

 

'The full potential of 4G is as yet unexplored but over half of our customers say they use more data than two years ago and even more use wifi wherever they go, to always stay connected.

'Given this trend, there is no doubt that 4G will transform our lives, be it as consumers, in business or through public sector services.'

The launch in Britain will be the second European market where O2 has launched 4G having already rolled out superfast mobile internet services in Germany, as well as further afield in countries including Brazil.

Commenting on the news, Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at uSwitch.com, said: 'Finally, EE has some competition for consumers hungry for super-fast mobile internet.

'For nine months the UK's 4G market has been a one-horse race, but now EE has a thoroughbred breathing down its neck.

'However, until O2 announces full pricing information it remains to be seen just how hard-pressed EE will be.

Vodafone, which is the third biggest network operator in Britain, won both 800MHz and 2.6GHz lots during the auction and has said it will roll out a 4G offering later this summer.

In July, EE announced it was doubling its 4G speeds for people in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Derby, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Nottingham and Sheffield. 

The speed boost - which is twice as fast as current average 4G speeds and 10 times as fast as 3G - will make it easier to watch HD videos without buffering, share high-resolution pictures and send large files in seconds.”

If you are interested in partaking in this service, contact O2 directly via the following link http://www.customerservicescontact.co.uk/o2-phone-number/ and speak with a member of their customer service department. For more information on the role of social media in modern day society, read our articles on Ezine. 

 

Article originally found at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2382394/O2-set-launch-4G-mobile-network-UK-August-29th.html.

Samsung Deny Cheating

Technology company Samsung have recently faced accusations of tricking their customers with regards to the speed of new mobile phone, the Samsung Galaxy S4. The company carry out tests to appraise the performance of their phones and they have been accused of manipulating the benchmark tests.

Website AnandTech have based their allegation around Samsungs supposed alteration of the code on their Galaxy S4 to make the handset run faster when running certain apps.

The apps that are tested are designed to discover how quickly and efficiently the computer’s processors and so on work. The results are then used to promote the handset and its hardware. The Galaxy S4’s benchmark tests are considered exceptionally important because Samsung have not provided official clock speeds for the phone.

Benchmarking tools such as GLBenchmark and Quadrant have been used by AnandTech to gather this information. They have returned figures for the processor speeds of 533MHz which is a boost of 11% from the normal 480MHz. They also carried out a test to see the result of the benchmarking software being loaded onto a US version of the Galaxy S4. The results showed the CPU reach its highest performance level.

The technology company have denied that they have used any specific tools to manipulate the results that they found. They differentiate between the apps that run full screen and those that don’t. Samsung’s explanation for the difference in clock speeds is that the apps that run on a full screen require the highest level of performance and therefore have different speeds.

This was unsatisfactory for AnandTech who have said that this does not provide a suitable explanation for the strings of code found by the company that appear to show specific benchmarking apps being chosen for higher performance speeds. However this may all appear to be redundant because while the credibility of Samsung and their phones may be brought into question here, the applications that it has been applied to are in fact out of date.

If you are an existing Samsung customer or are interested in becoming one; contact their customer services department directly via the Samsung phone number to discuss your options. Samsung populate their phone lines with friendly and helpful customer service employees who are willing to assist with all enquiries. Additionally, you can keep up to date with all of Samsung’s most recent business dealings through the news feed on our page. Click Here to read what changes and improvements they have made recently.

Is Social Media Ruining Childhoods?

The title suggests a very intense, sweeping statement and one that many people will probably disagree with but the simple fact is that only too often you see people attached to their mobile devices and isolated from the social world. That is a sad thing to experience.

While it can be argued that the middle and older generations have reached this state through personal choice because they have been present for the whole process of going from a world without mobile phones to a world perpetually connected, the younger generations are born into this world and it is natural for them to be connected from a young age.

However, this argument hinges on how psychologically healthy this is. The age that children are getting phones and various other communication gadgets is dropping all the time. This puts them at risk from all sorts of things but arguably the most damaging implication is this paradoxical state of encouraging social interaction while oppressing it at the same time. Children need to learn the basic social skills, which they do at school, but through spending more time using a keyboard to speak to other children, their interpersonal skills are affected.

The best way to rectify this problem is all on the parents. Encourage them to have phones and communicate with their peers as this is of course important, but instil in them the understanding that sometimes the best thing for everyone is to be temporarily unavailable and that these lines of communication are most effective when used for fun and to organise meetings.

It is not uncommon to hear people say things like ‘I can’t wait to get away on holiday – I can turn my phone off!’ which implies that actually people don’t like being permanently available for contact. Obviously it has its benefits; the mobile phone was created through a demand for more efficient communication channels but it has gone a little far. The fact is though that those older generations recognise what they’re feeling and react to counter that feeling; the younger community are not always quite so intuitive and therefore end up stuck in this perpetually paradoxical state of communication and lack thereof.

Children should be encouraged to try things they’ve never tried before, to meet up with other children and learn things even when they don’t realise they’re learning. This is the only way that the human race is going to develop – children are the future – and mobile devices of course play a role in that but when they take centre stage they prevent this and that is, quite simply, a shame.

For further discussions on a similar topic, subscribe to our Ezine page and receive notifications when we upload a new article.

Apple Reports Increased Profits in Third Quarter

Apple news update: Profit reports from technology company Apple indicate better than expected profits as sales of their flagship product the iPhone spike.

Shares in the technology company Apple rose by almost 5% following the announcement that their third quarter profit reports had returned with better results than was predicted. This has been attributed to a recent increase in iPhone sales and is set to at least delay Apple having to answer questions regarding their slowing growth rate.

The second quarter – the three months leading up to June – showed that Apple made $6.9bn in profit, again because of an increase in iPhone sales. The reports showed that Apple had sold 31.2 million iPhones; exceeding the 26 million that they sold during the same quarter the previous year.

This is the second consecutive year that profits have been down in comparison to the same quarter the previous year; a clear indication that confidence in the company is waning.

Comparisons against the profit however were not so pleasing. It was reported to be down 22% from the same period and its profit margin went from 42.8% to 36.98%. Also, the average sale price was lower – reading $581 as opposed to $608 the year before.

Another positive comparison came from reports of Apple’s revenue: it was up $0.3bn from the year before to read $35.3bn.

With fears that Apple’s growth rate was a little on the slow side, this spike in iPhone sales may help to just calm those asking questions; at least for a little while.

Part of the reason Apple have suffered a dip in their sales in recent years is quite simply down to competition. Rival manufacturers such as Samsung have experienced a peak in popularity and are now the world’s biggest mobile phone maker.

Interestingly, it could be argued that there is a correlation between Apple’s 4% drop in sales in the Chinese market and the respective launch of low-cost smartphones made by Chinese manufacturers.

With research indicating that two-thirds of smartphone sales in China next year will cost less than $200 the Apple iPhone is looking rather expensive. Although there will always be the argument that you get what you pay for, i.e. spending a bit more on the iPhone should ensure you receive a higher quality product, this does not calm the fears of those questioning Apple’s growth rate.

Apple must remain competitive to maintain their presence in the market. Sales of Apple’s tablet, the iPad, dropped by 14% compared with the same quarter last year.

Samsung once again prove to be a threat to Apple as the latter fail to offer their customers any innovative, new products and Samsung take advantage of the gap in the market.

Confidence in the company has dropped significantly and following a peak in shares in September 2012, the company has now seen their shares drop by 40% since then.

Emphasis is now on the creation and development of new products; they cannot survive in the market much longer if they do not make themselves competitive once again. Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has reassured the world that they will be releasing new products soon.

If you are interested in reading more about Apple's business developments, click here. If you are interested in becoming an Apple customer, or you have a question about a current Apple product, contact their customer services department via the following link http://www.customerservicescontact.co.uk/apple-customer-services/.

When Twitter Gets Into The Wrong Hands

There are dozens of examples of Twitter failings and problems but the ones that are following Cricket Australia around their tour of England this summer beautifully articulates the problems that arise when the power to inform a large group of people so easily gets into the wrong hands.

The following was originally found on the Daily Mail website.

“As Australia's batting line-up was decimated by England's attack at Lord's, there would have been more than a few hoping the exiled David Warner will ride to the rescue.

But it seems the shamed batsman, sent to play with Australia's A team in Zimbabwe after punching England's Joe Root in a Birmingham bar, is just as out of touch.

Warner registered paltry scores of six and 11 as he struggled for form against a Zimbabwe Select XI in Harare - but that, it seems, is good enough for his brother. 

In a bizarre rant on Twitter, Steven Warner slammed the Australian selectors, opener Shane Watson and the team's inability to use DRS correctly.

On Friday, shortly after Watson had needlessly wasted a review in Australia's first innings, Warner wrote: 'F***ing selfish Watson sooner your [sic] out the side you great pretender the better.'

And after the Aussies had been skittled for just 128 - their lowest total at Lord's since 1968 - Steven posted: 'Ok @CricketAus I hope u have a business class seat booked from SA to London because its about time u had a batsmen there who will have a go.'

Earlier in the week, Steven, the elder of the brothers and once a promising cricketer himself, also waded into the debate over Mickey Arthur, who has disclosed details of internal rifts in the Australia camp after being sacked just 16 days before the start of the Ashes and is now preparing legal action against Cricket Australia.

He wrote: 'Good on Mickey Arthur finally letting the truth be known and proving he was just an escape goat [sic] #awesomebloke #Gentlemen.'

As a promising young batsman, Steven played for the New South Wales under 17 representative squad, even touring England in 1996, but walked away from the game.

The 33-year-old was a plumber by trade but now works as a Virgin Australia baggage handler.

David has previously gone on record to say his brother leaving the game was an inspiration to keep working hard to advance his own career.
 

There is a chance David could be restored to the Ashes squad for the third test at Old Trafford, which starts on August 1.

If this is the case, he has further opportunities to find form when Australia A play a second string South African XI in Pretoria between July 24-27, or he could return to England for the tour match with Sussex at Hove from July 26-28. 

Steven Warner removed his Twitter account at the weekend.”

Steven Warner’s decision to remove his Twitter account shows his ability to make at least some decisions that favour his brother.

For more information on using Twitter via mobile devices, contact your mobile phone service provider. One of the biggest service providers in the UK, Orange, are contactable via the following link http://www.customerservicescontact.co.uk/orange-contact-number/ for discussions on the use of social media and the implications this has on your phone bill. Furthermore, for more views on the role of social media and whether the positives out-weigh the negatives in relation to a presence in the work environment, visit http://ezinearticles.com/?Technology-and-Youth&id=7785509.

The Problems With Social Media

Social media is great for keeping the world informed of a whole range of things, including the latest score at a sporting event. It doesn’t always run smoothly though and there are times when the role of social media and how it is controlled comes into question.

A recent occurrence of this revolves around Cricket Australia and their official Twitter feed. The third day of the second Ashes Test was taking place at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London on Saturday 20th July 2013 and with Australia struggling against a decisive England team, an apparent catch by Steve Smith at gully was invaluable to their match progress.

Smith took the catch low to the ground when England batsman Ian Bell – who has already scored two centuries this series – chipped the ball to him. However, Bell stood his ground asking whether it had carried and Smith looked almost equally questioning as his team mates celebrated around him. The umpires – Marais Erasmus and Kumar Dharmasena – refrained from giving a decision as they chose to refer to the third umpire, Tony Hill, who opted to give Bell not out.

The Australian team looked bemused at the decision as they believed the ball had carried and Smith had taken a clean catch – it was pure spirit of the game that both participants in the incident asked the question regarding whether the ball had carried. The luck was really not with Australia on Saturday, or indeed at any point through this game, and that can be as frustrating as not playing well but the subsequent Tweet sent from Cricket Australia’s personal Twitter feed.

The Tweet that appeared said ‘That decision sucked ass #bull****’. Particularly in light of all the controversial decisions that have been made in the first two Tests of this series, it is understandable that Cricket Australia are feeling a little disheartened – it’s safe to say even the spectators have felt let down by the umpires and the Decision Review System but the offensive Tweet makes the whole situation darker still.

Cricket Australia deleted the Tweet almost immediately and issued an apology in its place. They have announced that there will be an investigation as there are several people who have access to the account both in England at the moment and Australia. They have confirmed that the Tweet did not emanate from Cricket Australia’s official presence at Lord’s.

This is a succinct portrayal of the incidents that can occur when it is so easy to inform a huge number of people at once and when so many people have the ability to post Tweets – it only takes one person to ruin the reputation of an entire country. The integrity of the game has been brought into question enough this series with poor umpiring decisions and a pre-series drama between Cricket Australia exile David Warner and England wonder boy Joe Root in a pub in Birmingham. All of the above have been acknowledged and when appropriate apologised for but nonetheless problems have lingered.

For more information on social media and its role in the workplace, follow this link http://ezinearticles.com/?Mobile-Communication-in-the-Work-Place&id=7790844. Provided you have an internet connection you can use social media sites. If you are interested in taking out a contract in order to gain an internet connection, contact O2 and speak with a member of their customer services department.

Social Media for the Famous

With the omnipresence of mobile devices and the need to use the channels of mass communication to keep the world up to date with your movements this has not excluded the famous; if anything it has birthed a world lacking even more in privacy. The only difference now is that as opposed to it being the media, the paparazzi, keeping tabs on the rich and famous for the general public they are informing them themselves. 

Twitter and Facebook allow fans to ‘follow’ or ‘like’ official pages dedicated to their favourite personality whether it is sports, arts, film, music, whatever, there are pages with information and updates about them. In many ways this is just a very modern version of the gossip columns that were in newspapers and magazines but often it takes it to another level allowing their ‘followers’ to know precisely where they are and what they’re doing at all times.

A strange concept that the human brain can struggle to comprehend on occasions; being watched all the time, but at least it is personal choice just like it is for the rest of the world. The social media sphere has closed the gap between the general public and elite members of society, the rich and famous, the talented, the ones that inspire awe. It is most commonly used in a positive way and is used to create hype around an event for example and this is brilliant and succinctly articulates the reason social media has been such a success but because it’s controlled by humans, it can have its flaws; errors can be made. 

This most often happens when people are cross, their tolerance levels drop and they want to vent. All of a sudden the quality that makes social media so good is the thing that causes the most harm; the ease within which you can reach thousands of people. The main thing that’s highlighted in situations like this is how fickle the public’s perspective of those in the perpetual spotlight is. If a famous actor sends out a Tweet about the fact that they left a supermarket and their carrier bag broke, spilling their groceries everywhere – the public find it endearing. They are as human as the next person and that appeals to ‘normal’ people. Term used loosely. However, if they Tweet about not being cast in a role they wanted or arguing with a director they are petulant and the Tweet is distasteful, they will also probably be asked to delete the Tweet because it is offensive to another person.

There is no way of having your cake and eating it too. A personal Twitter or Facebook account is just that: personal. It should matter not whom the account belongs to.

All of the major mobile phone companies have a data allowance included in their monthly contracts and it is this that allows you to use social media for mass communication. To remain up to date with the companies’ business dealings, visit the following page http://www.customerservicescontact.co.uk/news/o2-service-update-o2-4g/. For more thoughts on the role of social media, read our articles on Ezine.

Unique Phone Numbers

It is an acknowledged fact of life that people use commodities to impress peers and prospective partners but since the development of the internet this has expanded to include bragging about activities that you’ve completed. In a world full of people constantly connected to mobile phones and using them to transmit messages in a variety of formats including emails and text messages but also social media, this demand – certainly amongst the younger generation – to impress, means that every aspect of their mobile phone needs to be impressive.

This stretches as far as phone numbers and it has become abundantly clear that there is a market for unique, memorable numbers.

Obviously some of these numbers are used to promote businesses and they are considered a good investment. A pizza company for instance could pay for the numbers 749927 to appear after the area code because those are the number counterparts to the keys used to type ‘pizzas’ on a telephone keypad. This quirky product also reflects how integral phones are to our lives – companies are striving to be remembered by their customers through the use of something they do everyday.

Other numbers that can be bought include novelty ones ending in or including ‘007’. Obviously metonymic of James Bond and therefore intended to impress or at least alert all of those who have your number that you share some qualities with the famous spy. Perhaps that you are as delusional as he is fictional. But the point is that having a number that has novelty value not only provides entertainment for those who have it but it also, in theory, makes it easy for people to remember.

Many people find it difficult to remember all of their numbers these days because they have so many – a mobile phone, a landline phone and then there are the numbers that we use for all the other things such as pin numbers – so having a memorable number could work in your benefit. There is a market for unique numbers that includes you selecting the numbers you want in the final six digits of your phone number and a company fixing it for you. They are not necessarily the cheapest commodity you’ll ever purchase but if having a series of numbers that have some connection to you, like birthdays or anniversaries etc as your phone number will help, then it’s worth it.

The internet is the place to look for companies such as this but if you have become accustomed to the mobile number that you were provided with and have memorised that and want to keep that number then you can speak with your service provider and arrange that. Follow the links to find the contact details for companies such as TalkTalk http://www.customerservicescontact.co.uk/talktalk-contact/ and Virgin Media http://www.customerservicescontact.co.uk/virgin-media-customer-services/, both of whom are renowned for having excellent customer service departments who can assist with queries such as this.

Xbox Risks?

Social media and the various components and vehicles that come with it are, arguably, causing mental and physical health problems in the younger generations. This article is not intended to be a metaphorical soapbox for the author to stand upon and ramble about how technology is getting out of control but it is here to suggest that there might just be a balance between technology and nature that limits the damage that’s done.

You don’t have to travel back all that far in time to find people that do not know what an Xbox or mobile phone is and managed to entertain themselves and indeed survive, meet up with friends and family without the use of technology. It really was astonishing. The development of technology such as mobile phones and the internet has been so dramatic that it seems that the youth generation – those born in this millennium and the last five years of the last – are the ones who rely on this technology to a greater extent and this means that they feel the harm as well as the benefits.

News has broken today of a young man who sadly died earlier this year of SADS (Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome) which essentially means that the boy had a heart attack. The tragedy happened while he was playing on his Xbox and it cannot be sad that the computer game was directly the problem, the amount of stimulus offered by the game is credited with causing ‘over-excitement’. This incident is isolated and it is understood that the young man suffered from other medical conditions too but the fact is that it is just the most recent incident. Previously it has been known for young children to experience deep vein thrombosis due to excessive time spent knelt down playing on a games console.

There are all sorts of reasons that these things happen and there is no individual person or company that can be blamed for these incidents, they just happen and often that is the case with accidents. However, there is an argument for individuals and perhaps their parents taking note that there are harmful repercussions that come from all of this technology and to be honest least of all is the physical health risks because they are minute; moreover are the social skills or lack thereof. This paradoxical world where there is a constant demand to appear social but not actually be social means when we, as humans, are thrust into a social situation that demands the use of motor skills exceeding that of opposable thumbs, we cannot react appropriately. The world is becoming virtual and humans incapable of functioning in it.

Visit Ezine for more articles pertaining to the benefits and harms of technology.

Nokia Launch New Phone

O2 news update: Nokia announce new phone in last-ditch attempt to rival Samsung, BlackBerry and of course Apple, O2 will be the stockists of the new phone.

Technology giant Nokia have released a new phone; the Nokia Lumia 1020. Telecommunications company O2 and rival Three Mobile are the first two networks to offer it in the UK. O2 are always one of the first companies to offer the most up-to-date phones, it is one of their most popular attributes.

“The Nokia Lumia 1020 has been officially unveiled, and O2 and Three are the first British networks to confirm they'll sell the 41-megapixel camera phone this year.

O2 says it will offer the Lumia 1020 "later in the year", while Nokia promises it for the UK "this quarter", which means September at the latest. The new phone goes on sale in the US on 26 July for $300 (£200) on a contract, but exact British prices and release dates haven't been confirmed.

Nokia promises an exclusive version of the 1020 for Telefonica, the European company behind O2.  

The Lumia 1020 was one of the most heavily leaked phones we've ever seen, to the point that the New York launch almost feels like an afterthought. It's designed to be the most powerful camera phone going, with optical image stabilisation and a 41-megapixel backside-illuminated sensor.

Features include dual capture, which takes a high-resolution 38-megapixel photo at the same time as a 5-megapixel snap for quick sharing online.

Powered by Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 software, the Lumia 1020 packs that giant camera into a colourful unibody shell.

Phones 4U is also selling the 1020. I'm expecting the new phone to be available on all the major

networks -- I'll keep you posted on further details as we get them.”

Nokia, having once been the leaders in new phone technology, are now trying to keep up with the top dogs of mobile phones: Samsung, Apple and BlackBerry and even the last one in this list are considered to be lagging slightly behind as the world is dominated by touch-screen phones.

This article was originally sourced from crave.cnet.co.uk. If you are interested in speaking with O2 about acquiring a contract with them for this or any other phone that they offer, give them a call on the O2 customer services phone number and speak with a member of their customer services department. O2 are always trying to stay ahead of the game and, unlike the counter-parts to this story, Nokia, they are succeeding.